The Sacred Beetle: the Nymph 



chisel have not troubled about such in- 

 significant details as the tarsi. 



Poor as I am in documents of this kind, 

 I doubt whether the work of sculptor or 

 engraver will solve the problem. Even if 

 an image with front tarsi were discovered 

 somewhere or other, the question would be 

 no further advanced. It would always be 

 possible to plead a mistake, an oversight, a 

 leaning towards symmetry. The doubt, so 

 long as it prevails in certain minds, can be 

 removed only by the sight of the ancient 

 insect in the natural state. I will wait for it, 

 though convinced beforehand that the Sacred 

 Beetle of the Pharaohs differed in no way 

 from our own. 



We will stay a little longer with the old 

 Egyptian author, though his wild allegorical 

 jargon is usually incomprehensible. He is 

 sometimes strikingly accurate in his ideas. 

 Is thus due to a chance coincidence? Or Is 

 it the result of serious observation? I 

 should be glad to take the latter view, so 

 perfect Is the agreement between his state- 

 ments and certain biological details of which 

 our own science was ignorant until quite 

 lately. Of the home life of the Sacred 

 Beetle Horapollo knew much more than we 

 do. He tells us this in particular: 



